"And they will go away into eternal punishment,
but the righteous into eternal life." Matthew 25:46
See what opposite ways, the godly and the wicked go
at death! The godly go to a glorious kingdom; the
wicked go to a loathsome prison! The devil is the jailer,
and they are bound with the chains of darkness. Jude 6.
What are these chains? Not iron chains—but worse; the
chain of God's decree, decreeing them to righteous
torment; and the chain of God's power, whereby He
binds them fast under eternal wrath!
The deplorable condition of impenitent sinners, is that
when they die—they go to a dreadful dungeon. Oh,
think what horror and despair will possess the wicked,
when they see themselves engulfed in misery, and their
condition hopeless, helpless, endless! They are in a fiery
prison—and there is no possibility of getting out!
A servant under the law, who had a hard master—at
every seventh year might go free. But in hell there is
no year of release when the damned shall go free—
the fire, the worm, the prison are eternal!
If the whole world, from earth to heaven, were filled with
grains of sand, and once in a thousand years an angel
should come and fetch away one grain—how many millions
of ages would pass before that vast heap of sand would be
spent! Yet, if after all this time the sinner might come out
of hell, there would be some hope. But this word "forever!"
breaks the heart with despair!